Sunday July 17, 2016

The MeerKAT, located in South Africa, is the southern hemisphere's most powerful radio telescope. Recently released images demonstrate its power and potentialآ—while the telescope is still in construction, it has already managed to reveal many undiscovered galaxies, as well as a massive black hole.

MeerKAT's images, taken of a patch of sky covering less than 0.01% of the total, reveal more than 1,300 galaxies in the distant universe, where only around 70 had been previously detected. They include a galaxy around 200 million light years away where new stars are being formed from hydrogen gas in large numbers, and a massive black hole spewing out jets of powerful electrons moving at close to the speed of light. "Today's exceptionally beautiful images ... demonstrate that MeerKAT has joined the big leagues of world radio astronomy," said Fernando Camilo, SKA South Africa chief scientist.